The invention relates to a vehicle door handle assembly. The invention in particular relates to an outer door handle assembly with a sensor device for detecting actuation. The vehicle door handle assembly comprises a handle, wherein at a side of the handle to be grasped from behind is arranged an actuation element, which can be actuated by an operator when grasping the handle.
Door handles for motor vehicles are available in various designs. We can distinguish in particular door handles with a movable handle from those with a fixed handle. In a movable handle design, a handle part of the door handle assembly to be grasped by the user from underneath or from behind is pivoted or translationally moved by force and this movement is transferred to a lock device in the door to be actuated. In a fixed door handle design, the handles are arranged largely immovable in relation to the door. In combination with such fixed door handles are usually used electrically controlled door locks, which are carried under the name of “e-latch”. Such door locks are disclosed, for example, in EP 0 584 499 A1. In fixed door handles, no continuous mechanical effect chain of the door handle is formed on a door lock. Instead, the door lock is electrically actuated in dependence on a detected actuation so that mechanical hardware can be reduced and cost and weight savings can be achieved.
There exist numerous differences in the way the actuation of a fixed door handle is detected. For this purpose, switches or capacitive sensors or deformation sensors can be used in the vehicle door handle, which detect the deformation of the door handle itself.
However, the operation of such fixed door handles requires either a complicated and costly sensor or it is not reliable in its detection in the desired extent. The object of the invention is to provide improved operator identification for door handles on motor vehicles.